I am a current-affairs columnist and film critic for The New York Post, for which I have covered everything from political conventions to film festivals. I have also contributed reviews and essays to The Wall Street Journal. Follow me on Twitter: @rkylesmith.

Is Steve Jobs A Creative Genius, Or A Tyrant?

As the Steve Jobs era ends, it turns out that the famous Apple “1984” ad was more prescient than anyone suspected at the time. Except Steve Jobs wasn’t the woman throwing the hammer. He was Big Brother — a high-tech giant revered by slackjawed multitudes from his domineering position on every video screen. And like Big Brother he was a spooky, weird control freak who cultivated not so much fans as thought-slaves.

Big Brothers love to unify us around their selves and their image. They love to make it look as though they, alone, are responsible for all good things. (Daimler makes some nifty products too — quick, picture its CEO. But you don’t have an image of Jurgen Klummsdorf or Hans Sitzkrieg in your mind, do you? You don’t even know the guy’s name.) No, Steve Jobs didn’t invent the iPod. And what is the iPhone except an iPod Touch that’s been wired up? What’s an iPad but a really big iPhone?

As with all tyrants, Jobs made the absurd seem routine. A few months ago I walked by my local Apple store — a gleaming transparent palace that looks like a drop of sweat from the gods frozen into a perfect ice cube as it fell to earth — and encountered a long line of what (in an only slightly different context) George Harrison termed the “Apple Scruffs.” The ragged fanboys camped outside the headquarters of the Beatles’ Apple Corps record label were now the wired-up, tech-drunk, expensively bespectacled masses of the strenuously clued-in. The iPad 2, was about to be released.

But not that day.

The new gizmo wasn’t to be sold until the following day, yet the conformist crew was lining up nearly 24 hours in advance, with their folding chairs and their coolers, in order to have the privilege of throwing away a day’s wages plus the cost of a device on something (if they were this devoted) they already possessed, albeit in a version a micron or two thicker and a supermodel’s eyelash heavier. Also, the iPad 2 has cameras for video chatting – much like the cameras on the iPhones every Apple Scruff already possessed (and every minimally-improved version of which they had likewise queued for).

Across the street, where Best Buy would be selling exactly the same item at exactly the same price at exactly the same time, there was no cult, no fever, hence no line (and no wasted productivity). That’s right: Fanatics would rather waste 24 hours advertising their zeal at an Apple store than simply walk into a Best Buy. Five hundred years ago, the Apple Scruffs would have been mortifying their flesh as a Jobs-like cleric urged them on.

In the 1984 commercial, Big Brother speaks of “a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests of any contradictory true thoughts.” Can there be a better description of your local Apple store, with its fresh-faced armies of uniformed nerdbots kindly doling out status-defining electronic accessories to slavering coolhunters, than “a garden of pure ideology”? At the stores, the Cult of Jobs commands “Full loyalty, no negativity,” said the headline of a recent Wall Street Journal story that also revealed that (as instructed in a hefty manual approximating the bulk of “The Marx-Engels Reader”) that the maximum leader requires “intensive control of how employees interact with customers, scripted training for on-site tech support and consideration of every store detail down to the pre-loaded photos and music on demo devices.”

Apple store workers are paid about the same as any retail sales clerks — nine to 15 bucks an hour — so why is Apple able to attract such a savvy work crew, the kind who couldn’t even imagine themselves scanning cappuccino makers at Bed, Bath and Beyond? Because the kids are under the impression that making a good showing at an Apple store could lead to a job with corporate in Cupertino. This seems about as likely as the guy who sells pennants outside Yankee Stadium being tapped on the shoulder by Joe Girardi: “Grab a bat, you’re pinch-hitting for Jeter.”

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Apparently, it bothers you that consumers are enthused enough about a user experience, unparalleled by any other company’s products, to wait in lines for them, at stores which go out of their way to cater to customer needs. Demeaning customers with the term “Apple Scruffs” makes your agenda clear.

I stopped running flash on my Android, because of the ridiculous drain on the battery that it causes. The trade-off: a more prolonged and overall better user experience. Flash sites crash on the Android more often than not, and suck battery life to no end.

Having a removable battery is absolutely necessary with Android phones, since they have about 30% of battery/performance of an iPhone. To match an iPhone’s battery life, I need to carry around two charged spares – no thanks. Battery packs/cases exist for the iPhone for those occasional 12 hour international flight. Other than that, this is a non-issue.

Planned obsolescence vs technological advancement.

Each year, new features and design refinements make for compelling reasons to upgrade. Besides, the cost to replace a worn iPhone battery is comparable to that of the cost of the battery itself. Again, a non-issue.

Apple, with their business model, has single handedly revived the music industry, helped the film and TV industry, and is greatly assisting the journal/magazine/subscription industry as well. A 30% cut for a 50%+ increase in business is a no brainer.

If you’re wondering why “The Cult of Jobs” retail business is the most successful around, perhaps you ought to ponder the unwarranted suffering people have endured in dealing with PCs, Windows, and third rate products. Blaming Apple for striving to offer first rate products and user experiences would be analogous to blaming a five-star restaurant for serving uniquely tasteful food.

I made a Forbes account just to tell you what an idiot you are. Way to be an extremist, yeah jobs is a little crazy but apples products deliver the best user experience (in my opinion), and people wait in line a day ahead of time for ALL kinds of electronics, like xboxes. Idk I just got very annoyed by your coy writing style and smug arrogance while bashing a man who has created (and re- resurrected) a company that has become the most valuable brand name in the world and at the same time the most successful retail store per square foot. Good day sir.

I am sorry that you have not realized the great things that Steve Jobs has done for our world. No single person has made as much of an impact on technology since Thomas Edison. Even though Steve Jobs was not the inventor of the iPod, he still helped with the development and marketed the product to the entire world. He has never thought of his fans as slaves and even replies to some of them personally when they have a question about the functionality of new Apple products.

In what way is Steve Jobs a tyrant? He does not take credit for Apple products in any way. For the past couple of years, he has not even been able to host Apple’s WWDC conference due to health products. People appreciate Steve Jobs for the great things he has brought to this world, not because he tells them to. Fans wait outside of Apple Stores to buy new products on their release date because they want to. There is no reason to be angry at Jobs for attracting a lot of customers.

Just because you do not personally like a certain company, does not mean that you need to write an article saying that the CEO and his entire company are evil. There is nothing evil about not supporting a piece of software on a device that you sell. If the customer needs this software, they have the option not to buy the product. You also mentioned that Apple was “stealing” by charging 30% for magazine subscriptions. It is not stealing for a company to provide a price for their services. Steve Jobs created one of the best corporations in the world and it has given us more than any other company in history.

Can’t agree with the allegations of this article. The reason people are loyal is not because Steve is a tyrant and controls everything. It is because Apple borugh products to market that didn’t suck as bad as the current offerings that limited function, joy, and ultimately desireablitlity. Do you not remember the crappy mp3 players? The music you couldn’t download affordably? The mobile phones that offered only lame ass software from the carrier?

Are you serious about attacking Steve Jobs for the historical valididity of it? You’re barking up a long discredited line of criticism. Apple delivers products that are better than the competition.